When I was growing up, if we wanted fresh, locally grown produce we had to either grow it ourselves or stop by a roadside stand. Many a summer evening was spent shucking corn or snapping green beans picked from our small backyard garden in southern Campbell County.

My husband will tell you that I did not inherit my mother’s ability to keep anything green alive. Thankfully, the backyard garden and roadside stand have given rise to farmers markets, where I and thousands of other Northern Kentuckians can buy fresh fruit, veggies and other goodies from local farms every summer.

The proliferation of farmers markets here mirrors a broader national trend: More people want to eat fresh, locally grown food, especially fruits and vegetables. That isn’t anything new – in heavily-agricultural Boone County, the farmers market is in its 26th year – but it has become more popular in recent years.

“I think once people get a taste of what true, local produce is – something that was picked this morning or less than 24 hours ago at its peak of freshness – they see what a big difference there is between that kind of produce and something that might have sat around a few days and traveled several thousand miles before it gets to you,” said Coy Wilson, organizer of the Boone County Farmers Market.

Another part of the attraction is being able to put a face and a farm with the products you’re taking home for dinner. You can find out when and how they were grown, or, in the case of the plants I buy every year in a vain attempt to keep them alive, how to care for them.

“The farmers are all friendly, and they have good products,” said Don Koop, organizer of the Dixie Farmers Market in Erlanger. “It’s just a friendly get-together; you meet your friends and neighbors up here.”

There are now 10 farmers markets across Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties, from the urban core in Newport and Covington to the rolling hills of Burlington and Independence. And Friendly Market, a Findlay Market-style co-op, recently opened in Florence.

(Page 2 of 2)

Farmers markets are typically run by either the county extension service or local government officials working with the extension service. Farmers pay a fee to sell at the markets, and the revenue is generally reinvested in infrastructure and advertising.

They draw farmers from across Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties, as well as Grant and Pendleton. Many of them make a full-time job of it, selling at multiple markets throughout the week.

For each of the farmers, it’s both a business and a passion.

After Evelyn Peluso retired from St. Elizabeth Medical Center, she and her late husband became full-time farmers. At their farm in Pendleton County, Peluso tends her herbs, tomatoes and other plants as tenderly as if they were her children, selling them at the Erlanger and Independence farmers markets. (Tips on how to keep herb seedlings alive come free.)

“Every year I say I’m not going to do it next year, but every year I get back in,” Peluso said. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s my passion. It’s a lot of satisfaction when you can bring (produce) out and sell it to people who have a need.”

But farmers markets aren’t just about fruits and vegetables anymore.

Tim Eversole of Covington sells freshly baked bread and delicious coffee year-round at his Bean Haus stand at Findlay Market in Over-the-Rhine. But he also sells his breads at nine farmers markets across Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati every summer.

“It’s turned out to be a big part of our business,” he said. “It’s really where you get out and touch your customers throughout the year.”

Erma and Granville Griffith operate an actual mom-and-pop business, selling their homemade jellies, jams, honey, lotion, candy and bread at the Dixie Farmers Market and the Newport Farmers Market. Retirees in their 70s, the couple grows berries and keeps bees at their Southgate home.

What keeps them coming back to the markets, week after week, year after year?